Former bank manager investing her skills in online kids content

A FORMER bank manager from Carlanstown has turned her back on the corporate world to try her hand at becoming Ireland's answer to Youtube kids sensation 'Ms Rachel.'

Laura Smyth had created a successful career in banking but she had another passion in life that she bravely decided to embrace in the form of creating visual content to help children process their emotions.

“Laz & Lucky” is a heartwarming children’s show teaching children aged two to six emotional intelligence through music and play with Irish themes and twists. Each episode explores a different feeling — from jealousy to joy — with original songs, colours and counting, and mindful storytelling blending education, entertainment and cultural connection.

With more than 60,000 views and almost 5000 subscribers, Laura is determined to build on those figures and make her mark in the 'edutainment' field.

“After school, I studied theatre studies, that's what I always, always wanted to do, like performing, singing, that's my passion,” said Laura who now lives in Blanchardstown.

“And then after I finished college, I went off traveling, and when I got back, I kind of fell into the bank, and I worked my way up to bank manager,” she added.

“Then I left and went back and did a masters and opened up recruitment and coaching business with my husband.”

It was one night when Laura was up with her baby that the light bulb moment struck and she began her journey into content creation..

“It was 4am and I was losing the mind with tiredness and I just put on the TV and up popped Ms Rachel and I thought

I could do this and that was it,” said the mum of two.

“I think the first I did, like a mock episode and that's how it was born,” she added.

“And then just wanted to keep it kind of a bit Irish so hence the leprechaun. And I suppose the puppet was inspired by another show, Steve and Maggie, that my four year old loves.

“Even when I was younger, I always wanted to be a children's entertainer, that was the number one goal. But I also got loads of different qualifications along the way, finance, digital marketing, product management, and I also became a life coach.”

Laura decided to incorporate what she had learned through life coaching into her quirky videos as she explains:

“Miss Rachel's edge was there. She got credibility because she was a preschool teacher So I was like what could I do that would give me a niche and credibility in the market, and I am a life coach, so you do touch on the emotional side, and just learning from having kids myself that emotional intelligence is so important. EQ is more important than IQ for success and happiness.

“It's so important at this tender age to just really nurture their feelings.

“I focus on breathing techniques in my videos and reinforce the message of reassuring them that it's okay to have these big complex feelings. I also use social media to speak to parents on things like how to approach your child if they're having a tantrum.

“There's a video on sharing, one on friendship, and they're all kind of like story and scenario based and I'm also trying to incorporate educational content. I did one around how different colours are associated with different emotions and numbers as well.”

Laura says children who are taught to process their emotions will turn into well rounded adults and she is passionate about educating parents on this through playful videos.

“It's about sending a message that all emotions are fine, and just like letting kids feel their emotion, and being able to actually articulate and talk about their emotions is hugely beneficial in the long run,” said the budding Youtuber. “A lot of us suppress our emotions and it's only later life, if we're with a therapist, we actually Learn how to talk about how we feel.

“I think when you suppress certain emotions and feelings they will ultimately come out and sometimes not in a good way whereas if you've already learned the regulation and processing along the way, like you're off to an incredible start.

“You could have the highest IQ, you could be a member of Mensa. But if you, if you don't know how to regulate or deal with emotions, you’re not going to be successful in lots of ways that are really, really important.”

Laura is hoping success with match her enthusiasm for this project.

“I live and Breathe this channel, I wake up thinking about it, it's reignited my passion for performance.” she said,

“I've so much energy, and I know in my heart this the right thing for me, and that I'll go to all lengths to make sure that this works. I don't want to be super famous, I just want to be able to do this as a full time career. If I could wave magic wand, I would love to be on Netflix or Prime or something, just be able to reach a mass audience.”